As a person who believes in democracy I whole heartedly believe in the principal of questioning the motive and conduct of our political leaders and those whose ambition is to lead us in the future. Hence every time I see someone putting a political opposition leader under the spotlight and asking them tough questions, it gives me both hope and regret.
Hope for the fact that we Iranians seem to have finally learned to threat our political leaders not as Gods who could not do any thing wrong but as another fellow countryman who also has the potential to make mistake and yes to be wrong, just like the rest of us.
It also makes me sad and regretful to think that why 33 years ago we did not give one Khomeini and his followers the same hard time before blindly following them to hell. If only we would have asked a fraction of the same tough questions from him and his followers instead of following him blindly to the hell that is IRI (and not back yet) then our and our children’s faith might have been different as well.
But having said that I also believe that these things need to be done in a fair moderate and mutual manner and questioning someone would no and should not be the same as denying their right to campaign as they see fit.
However what I see from Mr Amini and the opponent of RP in this site is not just legitimate questions and criticism but character assassination and an attempt to deny the right of RP and his followers to advocate and campaign for the form of democracy (constitutional monarchy) that they believe in.
I have also read the content of interview and I see noting wrong with it.
Like it or not, Reza Pahlavi is the leader of a group of Iranians called Monarchist and he has to see himself and the future king of Iran, otherwise having a republican as a candidate for the next king would be a bit awkward.
As long as he and his followers respect the wish of people in a free fair referendum and IF in that referendum our people vote for a constitutional monarchy then of course he would be king.
I wonder what other answer to this question our republican friends expected from RP and his followers.
If RP did not regard himself as the future potential King or did not believe in Constitutional Monarchy wouldn’t you be the first one in line to ask the question that how can he be a King when even he himself do not believe in Monarchy.
On the other hand there is one issue that has been nagging me from the moment this article went up and that is the necessity for me to ask all those who are angered by RP’s statement. WHY?
You are stating that RP is an incompetent, illiterate and opportunist person who is only thinking of restoring himself to power and can not care less about Iran or Iranians.
More importantly as you are claiming, he has no support amongst Iranian and some even claim that the young generation in Iran do not even know him (In spite of the fact that the young generation that I am dealing with here know him very well and follow his every move and word) but anyway!
So the question is: “Then WHY are you so worried?”
If Pahlavi’s legacy is so dark that our people do not want to go back to the times of minimum to zero inflation, 30 Rial per kilo lamb and two Rial per litter petrol, if they do not want to go back to the time when they could travel easily to every country in The West without worrying about exchange rate or the difficulties of obtaining a visa, In case as you claim they do not want to go back to the time that they only visited Europe, US, Australia and Canada as wealthy tourists or sponsored students and not as penniless asylum seekers, if they do not want to go back to the time that they were the superior nation in the Persian Gulf and no country in the world would have even dared to call Persian Gulf by any other names, if as you say our people passed that point and prefer idiots like AN, Mosavi, Karoobi, Khatami and Banisadr or traitors like Rajavi over competent prime ministers like Amir Abbas Hoveida or patriots such as Shahpoor Bakhtiar. In that case what is the worry?
Let RP be another idiotic noise in the crowd.
If you are so sure of yourselves, your ideology and the support you have amongst Iranians and especially the young and no one in Iran has the nostalgia of the 33 years ago when life as actually good, then WHY waist your time on the likes of RP.
Isn’t it about the high time that you people stopped with the negative campaign on other members of opposition and instead tell us something positive about yourself, the people you support and your strategy and mandate to save this country. How about telling us who do you support and who do you thing is eligible to be the leader of opposition instead of just hiding in the closed and sending negative waves after negative waves..
Has it ever accoutred to you that may be the rest of us also have the right to scrutinize you leader and his intents or strategy.
For those who have read my past articles know very well that I am an advocate of democracy and for me the essence is important and not the name(republics or constitutional monarchy) as I am mature enough that under both name we can have a vibrant democracy or a brutal dictatorship. Furthermore even democracy is not the aim but it is another tool to make this country strong again and its people prosperous and happy.
At the end of the day we do not just want democracy in order to enable a few un-evolved political monkeys to take the stage one after the others in order to promote their own obsolete bankrupted ideologies of the past or to tell us how to live, what to wear or what to watch, eat and drink.
I have been living in different democracies around the world for long enough to know that at the end of the day the government and politicians are the servants of people and their duties are not to promote their own agenda and iridology but to serve the people by managing the economy in the right way keeping inflation under control, opening the way for new business and creation of new jobs and defending our interests in an international stage (in a diplomatic way and NOT by war mongering).
Finally, when it comes to people whom I believe to be politically dead and yesterday’s losers, when it comes to idiots like Banisadr, Rajavi, Amini, and Taghvayee or parties like Toodeh party, MKO, communists or Islamists, I do not even bother to comment on their activities or statement as I know very well that they have minimum to zero support in Iran and especially amongst the younger generation.
However I still respect their freedom to say what they want to say and attend their political activities as they see fit. I would go even further and defend their right to say and do as they see fit. This would not be because I support or even like them but to maintain my own integrity as a true democrat.
The reason for this would be that first of all as an advocate of democracy I see it as my duty to defend the right of all even and especially those with whom I am in utter disagreement and secondly because I find their approach so childish and obsolete and I have such high faith in the wisdom of my fellow countrymen and especially the young generation that I do not see these individuals or parties as threat.
However it seems to me that those who focus their attack on only one person (RP) or on party (Monarchists) and are trying to shut them up at any cost are seeing these people as a big threat towards their own goals and to me that would indicates the fact that not only these people do not have any fait in the intelligence of their fellow countrymen as they believe that that we Iranians could be fooled again and be taken advantage by anyone, it also indicates that these people have no fait in themselves and their ideology or leaders either to the extent that even RP could be a threat to them.
Or may be these guys are another dictator in disguise, the next Khomeini, Khamene-ey or even AN and hence they want to get rid of any one and anything that might stand in their way of achieving absolute power.
Now I am not and expert but even I can smell this rat from a thousand miles
